Almost impossible to say IMO.. At their peaks, any one of them can be devastating. Sanath, Viv, Gilchrist, and a few others have a tendency of being devastating with almost no warning and can pull off a victory almost single handedly. Same could be said of those bowlers, on their day, many are unplayable. Just to compare and contrast them here:

1. Team 2 bats far deeper than Team 1.

2. Team 1 has more strike bowling options than Team 2. (5 would be enough though, surely a superior batting allrounder would be a better option at 6 for Team 1). Better bowling attack on the whole IMO.

3. Both teams have players who are not playing in their best position. On the whole I think its best to play those players in their best position.

Not too disimilar in the roles they played. Both can win matches on their own but I would back Gilly for consistency.

1-0 Team 1

Tendulkar v Hayden

Hayden was curiously out of favour in ODIs for a while. Despite his power he sometimes looked uncomfortable being rushed. To be honest, no-one compares with SRT in this format.

2-0 Team 1

Lara V Ponting

An odd one, because despite Lara having the even greater talent and being more of a destructive batsman as a rule, Ponting has had the better ODI career.

3-0 Team 1

Richards V Javed

I don't comment too much on players I know very little of, but the records and reputation would favour Viv.

4-0 team 1

Bevan v Symonds

Tough because I really rate Symonds in this format. But the way Bev used to time the scoring at the back end of an innings was awe inspiring. He was inhuman for a time.

5-0 team 1

Cairns v Lance

I'll go with Lance here as he seemed born to play one-day cricket. Although I rated Cairns very highly as a player.

5-1 team 1.

Pollock v Dhoni

Tough because one is a batsman who now plays as a finisher and the other is a bowling allrounder. I'll sit on the fence.

Still 5-1 team 1

Akram v Khan

I'll go with Wasim out of personal choice and the fact that he bowled in an era when batsmen started to really take control.

6-1 team 1

Murali v Warne

Warne had a very good ODI career but leggies weren't meant for this format and Warne, IMO, was too arrogant to fully accept the role of container at times, much like in today's IPL. Murali has no problem bowling a very negative line when required.

7-1 Team 1

Garner v Younis

Garner's record is too good to ignore but Waqar could win games on his own. I'll sit on the fence (again)

Still 7-1 team 1

Ambrose V Mcgrath

I would just side with Mcgrath, despite Ambrose's better economy, as I consider Pig the greatest fast bowler in the past 20 years and possibly a fair bit beyond that.

This thread might need to be merged with t'other, from which it originally sprang of course.

As I wrote in the other thread, Team 1 has too many bowlers for my liking. 6 front-line bowlers plus 4 part-timers. You could fit another batsman in there easily and you'd have the greatest ODI team in history. Whereas Team 2 has only got 5 front-line bowlers if you count Klusener as the 5th.

That said the point of the thread is how hard it is to pick between a 1st XI and 2nd XI - and indeed it is pretty tough to pick which of these would win. Team 1, maybe, but only maybe imho. And if you rebalance the teams then it might be even harder to call.

Depends on the conditions. If the match is held in dry subcontinent conditions, Team 2 will win. I think Jayasuriya and Hayden might be the better opening pair in that case, Miandad and Dhoni are very good at rotating the strike and going after the spinners and Waqar for the reverse swing in the middle/death overs. If the series is played in seaming conditions with a hint of bounce with the ball coming on to the bat, Team A will have the edge. None better than McGrath, Akram, Pollock to exploit that and I believe the batsmen in Team A (bar Lara) suit those conditions better as well. Sachin, Gilly, Ponting, Richards are more technically solid and can get more runs off textbook shots than Jayasuriya, Hayden, Miandad, Dhoni.

An average of almost 40, while striking above 90, and being able to offer amazing fielding and a few overs in the middle? He was never an amazing Test player, but he's one of the best in ODIs.

Originally Posted by flibbertyjibber

Only a bunch of convicts having been beaten 3-0 and gone 9 tests without a win and won just 1 in 11 against England could go into the home series saying they will win. England will win in Australia again this winter as they are a better side which they have shown this summer. 3-0 doesn't lie girls.